Patients that are more educated are likely to have better outcomes after treatment than those that are deficient in knowledge. Research shows that such patients are more adherent to the treatments that have been prescribed. Communication in healthcare can be achieved in a number of ways. These include, among others, health talks, print media, electronic media and patient handouts among others. We will briefly look at how handouts can be utilized.
Identifying your target audience should be your first task. Audience specific characteristic greatly influence the content. Such will include, the nature of diseases and medical conditions being treated at the facility, the demographic characteristics of patients and the objective of the message. It is important that you conduct some research beforehand to establish what applies in your case. If you are dealing with a large heterogeneous target audience then you may need to segment it into smaller groups.
After identification of the target audience, the next step is to create the content of the brochure. The easiest way to do this is to start by creating an outline (or rough draft). Finer adjustments can be made later on before the creation of the final message. Choose your level of vocabulary carefully so that it can be understood by your target audience easily. The sentences should preferably be short and concise.
There are different formats that one can choose from. The first is based on titles and subtitles. The title addresses the main topic while the subtitles serve to provide a little more information on the topic under discussion. For instance, if the main title is diabetes. The subtitles would address issues such as the risk factors of the condition, the causes, treatments and complications among others. The question and answer format is another alternative.
Illustrations are an important inclusion in the handouts. One of the benefits is that they help audiences to understand the topics better. An example is the use of an image of the heart to explain cardiovascular diseases. These types of illustrations are known as educational illustrations. The other type includes the filler illustrations mainly used to make the reading experience more interesting without necessarily adding any knowledge.
You may need to involve a great deal of creativity to get the patients interested in the handout. If you modify it in such a manner that it has many other uses then the readers are likely to retain it for longer and will even make references to it again in future. Some of the ways of doing this is to modify them into items such as calendars and bookmarks.
Advertising may be done in the brochures alongside the information. Such advertisements are likely to have a greater impact if they relate to the subject that is being discussed. For instance, if the main subject is on cancers, then advertisements should preferably focus on the management of such cancers at the facility. It is important that the advertisements do not exceed 20% of the total content.
Handouts for patient education continue to be an important communication tool in the healthcare filed. Each is customized depending on client characteristics and the facility. The design and production process is quite demanding and many people. Outsourcing is an option for persons that feel inadequate in knowledge or time.
Identifying your target audience should be your first task. Audience specific characteristic greatly influence the content. Such will include, the nature of diseases and medical conditions being treated at the facility, the demographic characteristics of patients and the objective of the message. It is important that you conduct some research beforehand to establish what applies in your case. If you are dealing with a large heterogeneous target audience then you may need to segment it into smaller groups.
After identification of the target audience, the next step is to create the content of the brochure. The easiest way to do this is to start by creating an outline (or rough draft). Finer adjustments can be made later on before the creation of the final message. Choose your level of vocabulary carefully so that it can be understood by your target audience easily. The sentences should preferably be short and concise.
There are different formats that one can choose from. The first is based on titles and subtitles. The title addresses the main topic while the subtitles serve to provide a little more information on the topic under discussion. For instance, if the main title is diabetes. The subtitles would address issues such as the risk factors of the condition, the causes, treatments and complications among others. The question and answer format is another alternative.
Illustrations are an important inclusion in the handouts. One of the benefits is that they help audiences to understand the topics better. An example is the use of an image of the heart to explain cardiovascular diseases. These types of illustrations are known as educational illustrations. The other type includes the filler illustrations mainly used to make the reading experience more interesting without necessarily adding any knowledge.
You may need to involve a great deal of creativity to get the patients interested in the handout. If you modify it in such a manner that it has many other uses then the readers are likely to retain it for longer and will even make references to it again in future. Some of the ways of doing this is to modify them into items such as calendars and bookmarks.
Advertising may be done in the brochures alongside the information. Such advertisements are likely to have a greater impact if they relate to the subject that is being discussed. For instance, if the main subject is on cancers, then advertisements should preferably focus on the management of such cancers at the facility. It is important that the advertisements do not exceed 20% of the total content.
Handouts for patient education continue to be an important communication tool in the healthcare filed. Each is customized depending on client characteristics and the facility. The design and production process is quite demanding and many people. Outsourcing is an option for persons that feel inadequate in knowledge or time.
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